Brawl in Venezuelan Parliament Caught on National TV (VIDEO)

A scuffle between ruling and opposition deputies broke out Thursday in Venezuela, after the president of the National Assembly abruptly cut off the speech of a member of the opposite party.

Deputy Alfredo Ramos, an opponent of the current Venezuelan government was delivering a speech at the podium during a National Assembly session on Thursday when the president of the Assembly, Fernando Soto Rojas, from the ruling party abruptly interrupted him to cut him off alleging he was already exceeding the accepted speech time.

According to an opposition party legislator, the two exchanged words, before the scene escalated and the opposition deputy Alfredo Marquina’s started throwing punches.

Legislators then stormed the floor shoving, pushing, pulling shirts and screaming. While Soto and most women legislators urged in vain to restore civilized debate.

Moments later, realizing that the chaos was being transmitted live by several networks nationally, Venezuelan state television and radio broadcasters interrupted their signals for several minutes until order was somewhat restored.